I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's just wonderful. Very funny, it reminded me of Notes from a Small Island. I’m not going to pretend that I know even a quarter of the references Ince makes to books, writers and general literary miscellany. I just soldiered on, hoping that some of the anecdotes will find a home in my memory via osmosis.

Bibliomaniac by Robin Ince | Waterstones

I know that I have a tendency towards melancholy, social anxiety, and self-loathing, and books form a great part of my prescription medication. When I say that books are my drugs, I don't mean that in a throwaway manner; they really do calm me, they really do shut off some of the voices for a while.A conversation with Robin Ince is a bit like weaving your way rapidly around the shelves of a second-hand book shop with a highly enthusiastic proprietor. Warm and gregarious, he hops from one subject to another with genuine delight and fascination. Robin Ince has landed a two-part Radio 4 stand-up special about the brain's relationship with reality and is publishing a book about his obsessive love of books, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.

Bibliomaniac, by Robin Ince - The Scotsman Book reviews: Bibliomaniac, by Robin Ince - The Scotsman

Why play to 12,000 people when you can play to 12? In Autumn 2021, Robin Ince’s stadium tour with Professor Brian Cox was postponed due to the pandemic. Rather than do nothing, he decided instead to go on a tour of over a hundred bookshops in the UK, from Wigtown to Penzance; from Swansea to Margate. Ince has known Gervais for more than 30 years and has been his support on tour. And he says they still argue about the nature of offence. What can I say. Here I am, working on books and smashing my non-work- related reading target... And a few times a year I get to talk to people about books in a similar way. But Robin is making me feel like I could be doing this more; better! I am simultaneously jealous and inspired.For sociologist Kahn-Harris, the warning message inside Kinder Surprise eggs – that tiny slip of paper covered in 37 languages and eight different scripts – is nothing short of revelatory. “The Manuscript”, as he’s soon dubbing it, inspires a quest to repurpose the myth of Babel as a metaphor not for conflict and division but unity. A true languages buff, he delights in his own incomprehension, finding individuality and invention in geeky translations of the Kinder egg message into Cornish, Klingon and ancient Sumerian, and musing on topics from linguistic evolution to endangered tongues. It’s gloriously eccentric – enlightening, funny and full of the human yearning to connect with others. The Infinite Monkey Cage, the legendary BBC Radio 4 programme, brings you this irreverent celebration of scientific marvels. Join us on a hectic leap through the grand and bizarre ideas conjured up by human imagination, from dark matter to consciousness via neutrinos and earthworms. Professor Brian Cox and Robin Ince muse on multifaceted subjects involved in building a universe, with pearls of wisdom from leading scientists and comedians peppered throughout. Robin Ince buys a LOT of books- especially from the charity shops and in comparison I feel far less concerned than I did about owning too many.

Live Dates | Robin Ince Live Dates | Robin Ince

An insider’s account of the rampant misconduct within the Trump administration, including the tumult surrounding the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. This is a very rich one-year memoir of Robin Ince accepting the challenge to do a tour of 100 independent bookshops, but being a bit of an obsessive, he actually visits many more than that. Most travelling gets done by train, and the vehicular cardiganned Robin crams his bags with treasures from almost each shop, subsisting on biscuits, or possibly cake. What a life! It's a travelogue of Britain but via independent bookshops. And lots of asides about books, if you want book recommendations well there are more than you could imagine. Anecdotes, interesting characters and mostly just a sense of warmth and goodwill. Bibliomaniac follows him in his quest to discover why he can never own enough books. It is the story of an addiction and romance, published October 10th by Atlantic Books, who previously put out I'm A Joke and his 2021 appreciation of the wonders of science, The Importance of Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity. You may think you have a book problem but, as likely as not, comedian Ince’s will dwarf it. Incapable of exiting a bookshop with just one volume, he ran out of shelf space long ago – and that’s after he donated 6,000 books to charity. In 2021, when Covid nixed a tour he’d planned with Prof Brian Cox, Ince hit on the idea of visiting 100 bookshops around the UK in just two months, notionally promoting his last book, The Importance of Being Interested. There’s some nice travel writing here as he wends his way from Wigtown to Penzance, along with cosy anecdotes about the folk he encounters and some madcap tangents, invariably prompted by his eclectic reading habits. She and Her CatA lot of this is very familiar to me from my own experience. Books are my drugs too; I've always used reading to calm my mind and escape myself. I too read about hallucinogens with great interest but am far too anxious to take them. It seems to me that no-one would choose to read constantly if they liked the sound of their own thoughts! Yet, unlike Ince, I definitely love reading more than books. He accumulates books constantly, whereas I own fewer books than my friends and family. The majority of the books I read are borrowed from libraries or friends. My preference is to read a book, review it, then pass it on so someone else can enjoy it. The 110 books on my shelves are roughly half unread and half favourites worthy of re-reading. Much as I adore books, in excess they become clutter which I detest. What happens when mirth turns to murder? When the screams are not from joy, but flesh-ripping pain? Dead Funny is an audacious anthology, featuring tales of terror from some of the brightest lights in UK comedy. Award winners Robin Ince and Johnny Mains team up for this unique exploration of the relationship between comedy and horror to see if they do, as believed, make the most comfortable of bedfellows. Each chapter, prefaced with a sketched map that roughly shows a particular leg of his journey, is essentially a collection of anecdotes and observations told with thoughtfulness, humour, and enthusiasm. Ince writes of his travel experience (he relies mostly on public transport), his impression of the stores he visits, their owners and their patrons, and of course, the books he finds and adds to his collection. Ince also muses on his relationship to books and reading, and occasionally wanders off on idiosyncratic tangents. If you are in the North America, look out for US/Canadian flag icons on popular product listings for direct links.